The super-stretch stitch is such a wonderful little thing, truly a modern marvel, yet we take it for granted. My old Elna does not have this kind of stitch and even with the various possibilities for knits, there is nothing remotely like it, something that lays flat yet stretches with the garment. Oh, I remember all the years I have battled popped stitches. Oh super-stretch stitch I embrace thee.
It seems to take forever to sew. The machine hums along, the needle going up and down at almost blinding speed and yet, the fabric moves forward ever so slowly, creeping onward at an almost invisible pace. You wonder if the fabric is moving at all. But eventually you are done and the seams stretches with the fabric and then returns to its resting state, flat and perfect. It seems amazing that you have spent so long on such a simple seam, one you wouldn’t even normally think about. You think " I could have sewn the entire garment on the sergeer by now"; but then you do think about it and look at the tiny stitches and marvel.
I don’t think we spend enough time marveling at the simple little things that make life so wonderful.
I have decided that I don’t like completely serged together knits. I like to combine the stitches from my sewing machine with serging. The seams appear to look nicer, at least to me, even if all I do is add a simple straight stitch just inside the serging line. I don’t always use the super-stretch stitch, don’t need to really, but the knit for this caftan is very stretchy with four-way stretch.